Dec 03, 2024

2016-2017 Undergraduate Catalog

2016-2017 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

University Honors Program

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Sean H. McDowell, PhD, Director
Web: http://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/departments/honors/

Objectives

The University Honors program provides students of high ability and motivation the opportunity to join a small, select, two-year-long learning community. For two of its three tracks (“Intellectual Traditions” and “Society, Policy, and Citizenship”), the program is taken during the freshman and sophomore years; for the third track (“Innovations”), students take Honors seminars during the freshman, sophomore, and junior years. Each of the three tracks functions as an alternative to the University Core Curriculum. The program takes a highly distinctive approach to education. While focusing on the historical cultural tradition from ancient times to our contemporary period, it seeks to provide an interdisciplinary dialogue with in-depth learning in the disciplines of philosophy, literature, history, political science, sociology, fine arts, and economics, as well as the history and philosophy of science.

Applications/Scholarships

Application to the program is by invitation only. Qualified students who have been admitted to Seattle University will receive a letter of invitation to apply for University Honors. Those qualified students who wish to apply should complete the application materials indicated on the program website: http://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/departments/honors/. Students who are admitted to the program receive an Honors scholarship in addition to the financial aid awarded by the University. University Honors Program scholarships are awarded for four years, so that they follow the student after completing the program.

Program Requirements

The Honors program consists of the following three tracks:

Intellectual Traditions: freshman and sophomore years, 18 courses, 72 credits
Society, Policy, and Citizenship: freshman and sophomore years, 18 courses, 72 credits
Innovations: freshman, sophomore, and junior years, 15 courses, 60 credits

The courses in these tracks are taught as Socratic seminars, focused on the major works of the past 2,500 years and arranged in a chronological sequence that allows for students to experience the development of ideas, history, science, and culture over time. Because each seminar in each of these tracks is four credits, Honors students usually enroll in one or more classes a quarter outside the program, which allows them to begin coursework in their major(s) or to explore other disciplines outside Honors while completing the program. Honors students are not required to take University Core courses because the Honors program is an alternative to the Core, another way to satisfy the liberal arts or general education requirements at Seattle University.

All three of the tracks begin in the ancient world and all three share the same two-course beginning with “Origins of Philosophy” and “Polis, Republic and Empires”. Then each track takes a slightly different march through history, culminating in a focus on the 20th and 21st centuries. Through this progression, students learn to see the deep-rootedness of contemporary problems and issues and gain a better understanding of how our world has come to be the way it is. The program provides an excellent foundation for whichever major students choose. The professors who teach in the program are chosen from among the University’s finest teacher/scholars. Outside the classroom, the program also sponsors cultural and social events, and students still have time to participate in a wide variety of activities on campus. From this unique educational experience students come to form a community for shared learning and lasting friendships, both inside and outside the classroom.

Co-curricular Activities

In consonance with Seattle University’s mission, the Honors Program encourages service on and off campus as an important dimension of a student’s development as a whole person. Because each student’s life situation is different, the Honors Program does not institute service learning as a program requirement nor grant academic credit for service. However, the program assists students in establishing contact with service resource centers on campus. In addition, some students are able to serve on the program’s Honors Council. Representatives chosen from the first and second year meet once a month with the program director to discuss matters such as student concerns about curriculum or instruction. The Council also plans events and in general, advises the program director.

Each year the Honors Program sponsors the Touchstone Lecture. The lecture is often given by a faculty member who teaches in the program, but in some years an outside speaker is invited to speak on a topic important to a humanities education. The First- and Second-Year Honors students participate in this event as representatives of the program and interact with Honors Program and university alumni, the university community and the public in general. Occasionally, an Honors graduate of advanced standing in his or her major may be invited to give a Touchstone Lecture.

The Honors Program frequently co-sponsors visiting writers and scholars to the University. Honors students are invited to participate in such events by attending presentations or receptions for distinguished guests. The Honors Program also arranges opportunities for student attendance at Seattle’s cultural and intellectual events.

The students have an annual holiday party and an end-of-the-year dinner to celebrate the second year students who are graduating from the program. All Honors faculty are invited to the end-of-the-year celebration.

Degree Program

Students accepted into the University Honors Program are admitted to both their degree program and the Honors Program. Students may thus be advised in both programs until the Honors Program is complete. Students who decide to major in philosophy, English, or history and have completed the University Honors Program sequence in these disciplines will have already accumulated five quarters of foundational credits toward their major. All students are ready to move into upper division course work in their degree program.

Program Requirements

Required Course Sequences

Students will complete one of the following tracks: Intellectual Traditions; Society, Policy, and Citizenship; Innovations.

Typical programs of study:

Intellectual Traditions

72 credits, including:

First Year, Fall: Ancients

First Year, Winter: Middle Ages

First Year, Spring: 16th - 18th Centuries

Second Year, Fall: 18th Century to 1880s

Second Year, Winter: 1880s - 21st Century

Second Year, Spring: 1880s - 21st Century

Society, Policy, and Citizenship

72 credits, including:

First Year, Fall: Foundations

First Year, Winter: Pre-Modern Thought and Culture

First Year, Spring: The Rise of Modernity

Second Year, Fall: Industrialization and Conflict

Second Year, Winter: Ethics and Political Economy

Second Year, Spring: Capstone

Innovations

60 credits, including:

First Year, Fall:

First Year, Winter:

HONR 1450 - Major Debates

First Year, Spring:

Second Year, Fall:

Second Year, Winter:

Second Year, Spring:

Third Year, Fall:

Third Year, Winter:

HONR 2520 - Modern Selves and Global Society

Third Year, Spring:

HONR 2400 - Major Ethical Debates of the Modern World

Research Practices and Oral Exams

The University Honors Program seeks to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the humanities in an historical framework. Throughout the curriculum, the program employs seminar method that combines the Socratic dialogue with the Jesuit tradition of challenging students to learn for themselves. The seminar method is essential in teaching students to become self-motivated learners who can articulate their insights cogently in the context of the seminar. Whether through the pursuit of answers to individual questions or the intensive study of general problems, students learn quickly how to critically assess ideas and to better understand their own points of view. The ideas and issues raised in discussions frequently lead to further discussions and questions that are then considered in subsequent seminars. The ideal seminar discussion generates a dynamic of learning and discovery among students.

It is customary that Honors students write expository papers for their seminars. Because writing is a process, the program involves peer review of papers in draft. With the help of the professor, students form small groups for a paper conference to plan, read, critique, and improve each other’s papers. Students typically read the papers of the group members and write evaluations of each essay, as does the professor. Through the intensive writing process students learn not only to find their own voice, but also to hone their skills for writing scholarly papers in a discipline.

At the end of each term in the Intellectual Traditions and Society, Policy, and Citizenship tracks, students take an oral exam with all three professors present. Students in the Innovations track take oral exams in Fall of first year, in all three quarters of second year, and in Fall of third year. The oral exam is the occasion for a student to demonstrate his or her ability to analyze and synthesize the course materials and the ideas that are common to the three courses in each term. The oral exam develops skills the student carries far beyond the Honors Program into situations that involve interviews of all kinds for scholarships, graduate schools or jobs.

Once every term the faculty and students from their respective classes come together for a plenary session outside of the classroom. Typically, the session involves attending a cultural event, such as a play or a musical performance, which has a connection with the historical period the students are currently studying. The plenary also can be a lecture by a visiting scholar or a visit to an exhibit. Faculty and students together have an open discussion after each session.